From Now On, You Have One Less Skill

Nick Fury said, "Natasha, in my capacity as director, I forbid you from using one skill."

Black Widow asked in confusion, "What skill?"

"Seduction!"

Black Widow was baffled. Why had the director suddenly issued such a strange order?

Her beauty was one of her greatest weapons, and it had never failed her.

If she could not use it, her strength would be cut by at least half.

Nick Fury sighed. "Your husband has come knocking. If I don't agree, he'll tear down S.H.I.E.L.D."

"W-what husband? Director, I have thirty-seven passports, and more than a dozen of them list me as married. Is this a new mission? Which passport do you need me to use?"

When Black Widow went out on missions, the identity she and her partner most often assumed was naturally that of a married couple.

After all, it was perfectly reasonable for a newlywed couple to visit cities and take photos on vacation.

Most of Black Widow's partners were agents. Only one had been an ordinary person kept in the dark.

Black Widow's heart stirred. Could it be him?!

When Black Widow had first met Apocalypse, she had indeed been deeply moved.

Seeing him live amid the chaos of the City of God, he had seemed to dwell in a true paradise—neither sorrowful nor angry, serene and content, with eyes only for the flowers and plants in his shop.

Having spent her entire life in a world of schemes and deception, Black Widow had never seen anyone so peaceful.

For a moment, she had even truly wanted to live with him forever as "husband and wife," escaping this world.

Unfortunately, she could not!

All that emotion had only been enough to make Black Widow stay one extra night.

Any longer would have been extremely dangerous, both for herself and for Apocalypse.

When she left the next day, she had even torn up the marriage certificate and could not help writing a few words. Those had all been signs of her inner turmoil.

They had been completely unlike the behavior of an ace agent.

But the more she thought about it, the more impossible it seemed. He was only an ordinary florist. How could he possibly have the ability to storm S.H.I.E.L.D. and force the director to make such a promise?

Nick Fury said, "I'll send you some information. You'll understand after reading it."

As he spoke, he sent Black Widow the emergency investigation files, along with footage of last night's battle and the fight at S.H.I.E.L.D. just now, through an encrypted line.

Apocalypse's file was simple. As a child, he had fled to God's Country with an elder relative. After that relative died, he had opened a flower shop in the City of God to make a living.

The only unusual thing was that elder relative's connection to the drug lord Flying Eagle.

By the time she saw the footage of last night's battle, Black Widow could hardly believe her eyes.

Her fake husband was this powerful?!

More importantly, she had only been gone for a few days, yet he had already come to S.H.I.E.L.D. That meant he had known her identity all along.

Thinking of that, Black Widow felt a little angry. That liar had known who she was but had not exposed her. He must have been enjoying the joke at her expense.

But when she thought of those vows at the wedding, if he had known her identity, then had those vows also come from his heart?!

Black Widow's mind was in turmoil.

A fake marriage for an assassination mission was one thing.

But truly giving her whole life to someone... Black Widow, like an ordinary woman, felt flustered and had no idea how to face it.

If Apocalypse had been an ordinary person, Black Widow would have refused without hesitation—just as she had left on their wedding day.

To ensure her safety, she had no fixed home and did not dare have a real "home." An ordinary person who stayed with her would never come to a good end.

But after watching the video Director Nick Fury had sent, learning that her bargain-bin husband was actually an unparalleled powerhouse, Black Widow could not help feeling tempted.

But the way they had started was all wrong.

She had first deceived him, pretending it was love at first sight. Then came the fake marriage, followed by using his connection to the drug lord to poison someone.

No matter how she looked at it, this was not how a normal couple should begin.

After a long silence, Black Widow said, "Director, I don't know what to do."

Nick Fury said, "This isn't a mission. This is your life. The choice is yours."

Seeing Black Widow remain silent, Nick Fury added, "Think it over slowly. I won't assign you any missions for the next few days. Remember, until you resolve your relationship with him, you must not use your beauty again. S.H.I.E.L.D. can't withstand a monster stronger than the Hulk right now."

On Apocalypse's side, he took the thirty million dollars and gave more than half of it to Dr. Stern to set up a laboratory.

Then he took out eight million to buy a villa in the suburbs, along with the surrounding land.

This would be his home in this world.

During that time, Apocalypse called Black Widow several times, but she hung up every time.

Apocalypse shrugged. He knew Black Widow still did not know how to face him, so he could only wait for another opportunity.

During this period, Apocalypse gradually familiarized himself with his strength and learned some fighting techniques.

After all, he was not the Hulk. He could not solve every enemy by wildly smashing things.

Apocalypse glanced at the system data:

Recovery Potion: 173 bottles.

Black Widow Shared Fortune: 65%.

Hulk Shared Fortune: 30%.

Black Widow's shared fortune had originally only been 60%. During this time, her trust in him had risen a little more.

That showed his trip to S.H.I.E.L.D. had still been effective.

As for the Hulk's 30%, it represented goodwill.

He had Hulk's blood in his body and had saved Hulk's girlfriend Elizabeth, so that was not surprising.

But what was fortune used for? Apocalypse still did not know.

However, one thing was certain: having fortune did not mean one could not die.

In the original plot, Black Widow, Vision, and even the absolute protagonist Iron Man had all died—and they had been the kind who could not be revived even with the Infinity Stones.

Perhaps it provided some protagonist's luck, but it was not a life-saving charm.

Speaking of Iron Man, based on Apocalypse's memories, the timeline of Hulk 2 should have been roughly the same as Iron Man 1.

At this time, Tony Stark was not yet Iron Man. He often made the gossip news because he had dates with some cover girl or another.

Apocalypse had been keeping an eye on his news.

Then one day, the news reported:

Tony Stark, heir to Stark Industries, genius scientist, and billionaire, had gone missing while transporting weapons through the Middle East. His whereabouts were currently unknown.

Stark Industries offered a fifty-million-dollar reward for any information regarding Tony's whereabouts.

The plot of Iron Man 1 had begun!

In the original plot, Tony Stark had been captured by a group of militants called the Ten Rings and forced to build missiles.

He should have been in some cave in the Middle Eastern desert right now. His heart had been injured, with bomb fragments lodged inside, and he had to rely on an external battery to stay alive.

Rescuing Tony would not be difficult. Apocalypse could not conveniently search for him himself, but as long as he notified S.H.I.E.L.D., they could determine the approximate location, find him, and rescue him without much trouble.

The problem was that this experience was the turning point in Tony's life. It was the key event that transformed him from a playboy into Iron Man.

If Apocalypse interfered too early, there might never be an Iron Man in this world.

Iron Man was a core figure in a series of future events. Without him, everything in the future would change, and Apocalypse's foreknowledge would become useless.

But if he did nothing and did not offer help when Tony needed it most, he would not be able to share Iron Man's fortune.

The more fortune, the better.

That left him in a dilemma.

After thinking for a while, Apocalypse contacted Dr. Stern. "Stern, if I connect to a surveillance system, can you hack it?"

"Boss, my brainpower has increased tremendously now. I can learn this kind of hacking technique easily. It's a piece of cake."

"Good. Wait for my command."

Dr. Stern said, "No problem. But... Boss, do you have any Recovery Potions left? I've already used mine up."

"So soon? It hasn't even been a month."

Apocalypse asked casually. But to Stern, it sounded like a hint of blame.

In his view, a miraculous potion like the Recovery Potion had to be extremely valuable.

Six bottles were equivalent to six lives. Selling them to the wealthy alone could have made who knew how many billions.

Using them all up in a month really was difficult to explain.

Dr. Stern hurriedly said, "Boss, although I haven't analyzed the potion's components yet, I've already achieved some results."

"Let's hear it."

"Although the potion is miraculous and can instantly restore a person to normal condition, it has some flaws. If an injury has already healed, or if an organ has been missing for too long and the wound has closed, it cannot repair it."

Apocalypse had a bad feeling and asked, "If someone has been blind in one eye for twenty years, or if a woman had her uterus removed more than a decade ago, then those can't be restored?"

"That's right. Not just more than a decade. As long as the injury has healed, it can't be repaired."

"What if the scar is damaged again? For example, if a blind eye is stabbed blind once more."

"That won't work either. This potion seems only capable of restoring something to how it was before the wound healed. If you damage a scar and repair it again, it will only be restored into a scar."

Apocalypse's heart sank. He had originally wanted to find a suitable time to give Director Nick Fury a Recovery Potion as a favor.

Nick Fury had lost one eye in the plot of Captain Marvel in the nineties, when it had been scratched out by a Flerken.

Still, that was a small matter. It was not important.

The key was Black Widow. The Red Room had cruelly removed her uterus, leaving her infertile for life. That was her greatest regret.

If he could restore it, he could undoubtedly resolve part of her inner demons.

If the Recovery Potion could not do it, then he would need to find another way.

Apocalypse said in a low voice, "I'll send you a few more bottles."

The next day, in the desert of Abuqiong Country.

Based on the location where Tony had disappeared and the impressions from his memories, Apocalypse quickly locked onto a canyon.